The networks called the Pennsylvania governor's race minutes after polls closed, but this was an election that was over before it began.
That's what you'll hear from independent analysts as well as Republican and Democratic political operatives. Incumbent Republican Tom Corbett lost this election more than two years ago, when he pursued policies that would prove unpopular and didn't see the need to actively defend them.
"This story was written a long time ago," said Charlie Gerow, a Republican media strategist in Harrisburg. Gerow said Corbett had a story to tell about inheriting a fiscal mess and holding the line on taxes, and that his education spending policies were defensible.
But Corbett, lacking the temperament and political skill to sell himself, let the
narrative get away from him.
Read the full version of this report at the website of Keystone Crossroads, a new statewide public media initiative reporting on the challenges facing Pennsylvania's cities. WPSU is a participating station.
